by Flynn, Mac
"And your mom? Didn't she want to crucify me for dumping that soup on your head and ruining dinner?" I asked him.
Alex had a surprised look on his face. "Mother mad at you?" He let out a laugh that echoed down the inventory halls.
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "What's that laugh for?"
He wiped the tears from his face and brought himself under control. "Because Mother was proud of you. The minute you left she burst out laughing and Albert and Fred had to hold back Father from running after you to give you a good spanking."
My jaw dropped open. "So your mom liked me?"
He nodded. "She said you reminded her of herself when she was younger. Father wasn't too thrilled with that and wanted to fire you then and there, but we convinced him that with all that energy you were a very valuable employee."
"Uh-huh, and with him in that mood you were able to convince him to do take the hard road?" I wondered.
"Well, not exactly," he hesitantly replied. "He and Charlie have given control of the entire operation over to me under the condition that I improve matters enough to get the store out of the red by the end of the year."
"And the manager position?"
"That was my idea."
"Yeah, that wasn't a very good idea. You don't know a thing about back room managing," I persisted, still dumbfounded that he'd taken the job from The Dick.
"And I'm counting on you and the rest of the employees to help me learn the ropes, especially since I'll be juggling the administration part at the same time."
I looked at this naive young man with his broad smile and realized that I loved him, deeply but conditionally. After all, he'd nearly fired a lot of my friends, and I didn't believe in people turning over a new leaf so quickly unless there was a fire beneath their asses to get their conscience going. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "All right, I'll help, but this is going to be a professional relationship. No dates, dinners, or future-in-laws." He opened his mouth to protest, but I put a finger on his lips. My scowl softened to a pitiable expression. I hated to do this to him, but I needed more time. "At least for now. We haven't known each other very long, and I think we need to take a step back and make sure we're making adult decisions."
He grasped my hand in his and removed my fingers from his lips. "So this means you like me?" he guessed.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "A little, yes, but don't let it-" Alex swooped down his head and caught my lips in a passionate kiss. My toes curled up and my body temperature raised to a feverish number. I floated away to a world that held only him and me, and it felt wonderful. Then I needed to breathe, and I pulled away gasping for air. He had a triumphant grin on his face. "Wow," he breathed.
"Wow," was my intelligent reply. I shook my head to free myself of the clouds and scowled at him. "And don't do that again!" I spun on my heels and stalked off. There was a celebration to join in the employee lounge. Jamie somehow found me in that crowded room and pushed a soft drink bottle into my hand.
"No liquor?" I teased her.
"Not until tonight. There's a big party at The Bar," she replied. She paused and leaned in to study my face. "You been doing something? Your face is all red."
I blushed harder and rubbed my cheeks. "Just been wiping away tears of joy."
"Uh-huh, Alex-I mean, Mr. Manager Brenton kissed you, didn't he?"
I frowned at her. "You saw it, didn't you?"
"Every minute of it."
"And heard how much?"
"Every minute of it. Do I get to be your bridesmaid?"
"I hate you."
"You know you love me."
"Well, if you heard everything than you know nobody's going to be my bridesmaid any time soon."
Jamie had this all-knowing look in her eyes. "Sure, whatever you say." She raised her own soft drink bottle between us. "To a happy union-that is, to the new ownership of the store," she slyly corrected herself.
I rolled my eyes, but we tapped our plastic bottles against one another. "And to a manager we'll have to save from his own stupidity. God help us all."
For all books by Mac Flynn visit her Smashwords author's page
or visit Mac Flynn's website.
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